Stenotaphrum secundatum belongs to the grass family, Gramineae, and has the common names St. Augustine grass and buffalo grass. Stenotaphrum secundatum is a vigorous-growing perennial grass that prefers warm weather climates, and is able to withstand temperatures as high as 105° F. Its market class is turf grass, and it is widely used as a lawn grass in the Southern United States where many other grasses cannot survive the extreme temperatures.
Some commonly known varieties of S. secundatum include ‘Floratine’ (unpatented), ‘Bitter Blue’ (unpatented), ‘Floratam’ (unpatented), ‘Seville St. Augustine’ (unpatented), ‘Raleigh St. Augustine’ (unpatented), ‘Texas Common’ (unpatented), ‘SS-100’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,395; sold under the name PALMETTO™), ‘Shademaster’ (unpatented), ‘Sir Walter’ (Australian PBR No. 96/226; unpatented in the United States), and ‘ST-85’ (Australian Patent No. 643567; unpatented in the United States).    Lineage:
The variety ‘B12’ was identified in Spring 2001 in Clarendon, New South Wales, Australia, during a seedling selection of cultivated ‘Sir Walter’. ‘Sir Walter’ is characterized by long-average internode length and intense purple intended color. Selection criteria for ‘B12’ were greener internode color and shorter internode length. The parent plant ‘Sir Walter’ was grown in isolation, and 5000 seeds were collected from open pollination in Spring 2000. These seeds were sown, and in February and March 2001, twelve of the resulting plants were selected based on their green stems. In Spring 2001 a final single selection, designated ‘B12’, was made from these twelve seedlings based on shorter internode length.    Asexual Reproduction:
‘B12’ was first asexually propagated by stolons in September 2001 in Clarendon, New South Wales, Australia. ‘B12’ has since been asexually propagated by means of stolons. The distinctive characteristics of the variety have remained stable and true to type through successive cycles of asexual propagation.